Sports Psychology

Are you plagued by excessive negative thoughts during your matches? Are you unable to follow your own game plan? Do you suffer from tentative play that you later regret? Are you calling yourself horrible names in your head? Are you regularly not satisfied with your performance, even when winning?...Read more

Every year for the past 10 years, I teach a workshop at the Omega Institute in upstate New York called “Tennis Inside the Zone: Becoming More Than an Athlete.” The workshop is targeted toward adult tennis players. We spend the week reconnecting to those unique attributes, characteristics and skills...Read more

What's the most difficult thing to do in tennis? I'd have to say it's the ability to balance efficient learning with optimal performance. The best players present a growth mindset to maximize learning and improvement and shut down that mindset to perform. Learning is premeditated, performing is...Read more

A few weeks ago, I remember seeing a sign outside of a fitness studio. The words and message struck me … It read like this: “You recharge your phone once a day, how often do you recharge yourself ?” I thought this was a great message and applies so well to sports. As a mental training coach, in my...Read more

I was playing golf recently with a friend who also happens to be an avid tennis player. As we walked down the seventh fairway and approached our drives, he asked me a seemingly simple question: “Tom, how do you teach tennis players to finish off their opponent and go on to win?” Indeed that does...Read more

A few months ago, I was listening to John O’Sullivan’s Way of Champions’ podcast when he interviewed his colleague, renowned mental training coach Dr. Jerry Lynch. They were talking about how all athletes want to win , but the path to winning is not so much about wanting to win, but understanding...Read more

Sometimes, as a tennis player, you exist on an island. Alone, solo, under the lights of your local club or drenched in the sun, there you are … between the lines, either gaining the accolades of glory hitting the winning shot or facing the weight of defeat. There are no teammates to pass to, no...Read more

It’s always fun to sit on the dais with some of the great thinkers in the world of tennis. I was recently invited to participate in a panel discussion at this year’s New York Tennis Expo at NYCB LIVE . The panel consisted of Steve Johnson, the California-born powerhouse currently ranked 34th in the...Read more

Most of us saw Novak Djokovic’s dominating win over Rafael Nadal in the finals of the 2019 Australian Open . Usually, coaches, parents, fans and even the athletes themselves write off this kind of big win as: “He just played great.” But this explanation is often too simplistic. In sports and in...Read more

I remember it like it was a lightning bolt, my then mentor said to me: “Your opponent is your partner, not an enemy!” I thought that statement was blasphemous! My entire competitive life, I viewed the opponent as my enemy, someone whom I must defeat. The entire goal was decimation! My mentor, Jena...Read more